Four faculty promotions announced in the university's student life office

Paige Eichkorn, Fort Smith Times Record
·2 min read

The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith has announced four new promotions within its Student Life Office for the upcoming year.

Stephanie London will serve as Assistant Dean of Students at UAFS. In the Student Life office, she will supervise Ashley Goodson, director of Campus and Community Engagement, Kara Crowley, who is currently the Student Activities and Civic Engagement Coordinator, and Kari Carbajal who will be the university’s new Coordinator for Registered Student Organizations.

London is a university alum and has been on staff for the last 15 years, most recently as Director of Student Activities and Assessment Coordinator for Student Affairs.

"Your college friends become your family," London said. "Here at this institution in particular, it's big enough to be this really exciting place, but it's also small enough to still be able to walk down a hallway or across campus and wave at someone; you know who people are. I think that does create, your family outside of your family. I think that's probably one of the biggest reasons why I've stayed."

Stephanie London is the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith's new Assistant Dean of Students for Housing, Campus and Community Engagement (2022).
Stephanie London is the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith's new Assistant Dean of Students for Housing, Campus and Community Engagement (2022).

This year, more than 750 students are expected to live on campus, nearly a 30% increase from last fall.

London said the last few years have been challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she sees a bit of "return to normalcy" coming.

"We're excited to kick things off with the housing move-in, getting those students here, those who are going to our cub camp program, which is our student orientation, and just that student excitement in general to be here," she said.

According to a press release, London will also supervise 21 resident assistants and four student desk workers. Resident hall directors Brian Cook and Joe England will assist London in "advancing campus housing procedures and developing holistic student engagement opportunities."

University of Arkansas at Fort Smith student volunteers carry first-year students’ belongings to the Lion's Den Residence Hall during the university’s annual move in weekend in 2019.
University of Arkansas at Fort Smith student volunteers carry first-year students’ belongings to the Lion's Den Residence Hall during the university’s annual move in weekend in 2019.

London said the Residence Hall Association has recently selected new officers and is developing student programs for the fall. The theme for year is "quality."

"Quality drives quantity, so we're looking at how can we have really great quality intentional programming, not just do a lot of events," she said. "We need to do events that students want to come to and they're gonna get something out of it."

On Sunday, Aug. 21 the recreational wellness center will host the university's Fair Day to connect incoming students and get them excited about the semester.

"We're definitely looking at different ways to incorporate different learning outcomes," London said. "I like to call it 'edutainment,' so how do we entertain them, but in a way that is educational. That's what we're looking forward to for this upcoming year."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Four promotions announced in the university's student life office